Bozeman Weavers Guild

Silk has wonderful properties of warmth, shine, strength, and softness and you can capture these qualities by using silk in combination with other fibers in a variety of ways to create yarns with exceptional character. In this workshop we’ll combine silk with other fibers in blends, plies, and special-effect yarns. We will cover blending techniques and how to select silk and other fibers for successful blends, explore different drafting techniques for the different forms of silk and learn how to use different yarn constructions with silk and other fibers to create unique yarns. As we go, we’ll discuss finishing your yarns to emphasize their luxurious character and touch on interesting facts about sericulture and some of the terminology specific to silk.

Advanced Beginner – student must be able to spin a continuous yarn on the spinning equipment brought to class.

• Spinning wheel in good working order. Spindle spinners are also welcome to bring fine and medium weight spindles as their primary spinning tool or in addition to a wheel.
• At least 4 bobbins and a lazy Kate for plying. We will be spinning singles and plied yarns in this class.
• Fine or medium hand cards, if available. There are usually plenty in the class for sharing if you don’t have these yet.
• Notebook, pen or pencil, scissors, small or sample-sized niddy-noddy, and yarn gauge or ruler are all useful but not essential.
• Any silk fibers from your personal stash that you have questions about or that you might like to try in class (optional).